Tesla Motors has filed a patent which states the following , THESE ARE TESLA MOTORS WORDS warning about a crisis, the level of which

they never disclosed to the consumer:
“Thermal runaway is of major concern since a single incident can lead to significant property damage and, in some circumstances, bodily

harm or loss of life. When a battery undergoes thermal runaway, it typically emits a large quantity of smoke, jets of flaming liquid

electrolyte, and sufficient heat to lead to the combustion and destruction of materials in close proximity to the cell. If the cell

undergoing thermal runaway is surrounded by one or more additional cells as is typical in a battery pack, then a single thermal runaway

event can quickly lead to the thermal runaway of multiple cells which, in turn, can lead to much more extensive collateral damage.

Regardless of whether a single cell or multiple cells are undergoing this phenomenon, if the initial fire is not extinguished

immediately, subsequent fires may be caused that dramatically expand the degree of property damage. For example, the thermal runaway of

a battery within an unattended laptop will likely result in not only the destruction of the laptop, but also at least partial

destruction of its surroundings, e.g., home, office, car, laboratory, etc. If the laptop is on-board an aircraft, for example within

the cargo hold or a luggage compartment, the ensuing smoke and fire may lead to an emergency landing or, under more dire conditions, a

crash landing. Similarly, the thermal runaway of one or more batteries within the battery pack of a hybrid or electric vehicle may

destroy not only the car, but may lead to a car wreck if the car is being driven or the destruction of its surroundings if the car is

parked.”
WTF!!!

Tesla's own staff have now admitted that once a lithium ion fire gets started in one of their cars, it is almost impossible to

extinguish burning lithium ion material. This is Telsa’s own words in THEIR patent filing, (You can look it up online) saying that the

risk is monumental. Tesla has 6800 lithium ion batteries, any one of which can “go thermal” and start a chain reaction! If you look at

all of the referenced YOUTUBE movies you will see how easy it is to set these things into danger mode.
Imagine a car crash with a Tesla where these 6800 batteries get slammed all over and then exposed to rain, fire hose water, water on

the roads, cooling system liquid.. OMG!! And then if, in that same accident the other car is a gasoline car… getting burned alive

Boeing has tried to produce 787s in a "Right to Work" state like South Carolina.
With a Tea Party governor and far right wing Republican party, this state is hostile to workers and workers rights.
Nobody in South Carolina knew how to build an airplane and it shows.
Union workers are skilled and experienced building aircraft and have made Boeing what it is today.

The Airbus 350XWB, while having composite reinforced plastic parts, will still primarily be made of aluminum-lithium alloy, and won't be as advanced as the B787. Some of the B787 advances your article misses, is its' use of electric power for subsytems. This is truly the first commercial "electric jet". The most notable contribution to efficiency is the new electrical architecture, which replaces bleed air and hydraulic power sources with electrically powered compressors and pumps, as well as completely eliminating pneumatics and hydraulics from some subsystems (e.g., engine starters or brakes). Another new system is a wing ice protection system that uses electro-thermal heater mats on the wing slats instead of hot bleed air that has been traditionally used. This is the most advanced passenger aircraft ever built. While Boeing is in business to build the world's best planes (nad turn a profit) Airbus is still primarily a European jobs program. Last year Boeing made a 7.2% profit, while Airbus returned a meager 2%.

I think this plane is a great idea and something Boeing needed in order to survive in the industry. They needed something on the edge of the industry and now they have one of the best and most efficient planes in the sky. The real question is not how many will they sell but how is Airbus going to effect their production.

With this new high tech piece of equipment on the market, how is this going to effect the atmosphere in terms of global warming? Must we cut back on many smaller planes and put these in place instead? Also, is the economy in a state right now where Boeing is going to have trouble selling these mega airplanes? The article did state that two companies did slash orders from Boeing already. We will have to wait and see what arises out of this and how much more quickly we deplete the ozone layer on Earth.

Gordon L, Boeing has been planning for the 737 replacement for years. The 737 has been a remarkably successful aircraft, having sold more than 5000 units. Recently, yet another revision was announced, with new engines, but that may be the last. I expect a composite replacement to be announced in a year or two. In the meantime, the 787 is the news.

If they want to sell versions of this airplane over the next 30-40 years the main issue is the improvement of fuel consumption. The ball keeps only rolling if steady progress can be made in that topic.

It's about time we update commercial airplanes, because right now they are just dreadful. The only major improvement they've made to planes in the last decade is finally getting wi-fi on flights. I do wonder however how profitable this endeavor will be. I don't think more people are going to start flying just because it is more comfortable, but the fuel efficiency should help offset the ridiculous cost that airlines have to pay for each flight. However, even if planes do become more comfortable, flying still won't be fun as there is still the security issue as well as long delays. Either way, I'm glad that I might being flying more comfortably in 5 years.

I would also be cautious about flying in an aircraft using large amounts of carbon fibre in its structure.Do we know enough about the Technology yet ? Could be an accident waiting to happen! Should have beent used on Transport aircraft first, I think

This is a huge step for Boeing and at the time it seems like the first flight passengers loved the experience. I am very surprised that some companies didn’t expect major delays on a plane that has never flown before and therefore cancelling orders. I know that Boeing sets a goal and a deadline but there are so many unexpected things that can happen when building a plane like this which is one of a kind. I am curious as to what will happen with the flight industry in the next ten years. Will prices be higher for every flight? Will we all be flying on a Dreamliner? I am very excited for what is to come.

With all the modifications they had to make to the Dreamliner, it is bound to be overweight and cannot deliver the promised fuel saving. As you rightly state, if it would conform to the promised 15%, Boeing would never stop talking about that advantage. Never heard about 40%? As to A320 NEO, there is a much better chance of achieving 15% fuel saving. All Airbus does is to replace the engines with more efficient ones and do some alteration to the wings.
The 787 will never match the Airbus 380 in fuel efficiency for one simple reason, it has to fly twice to ferry the same number of people the A 380 does in one. Fully loaded its fuel consumption per passenger is 3 L /100 km, this is a lot better than most cars manage and helps of course to reduce GHG emissions. Another advantage of that behemoth is its ability to service ever growing mega cities in a configuration of 800 plus passengers. China had its first delivered recently.

Generally this is the route Boeing chose with the 787 vs the Airbus A380.

The A380 with its huge passenger load lends itself to spoke & hub to hub & spoke routes. Meanwhile the smaller B787 finds a niche to fill in end-to-end routes. The size of the A380 only lends itself to the hub and spoke model which necessarily includes transfers, which every traveler abhors. Point to point provided by the B787 means more direct flights, and less people-hours wasted on traveling directions you don't need to go.